Chronicles of Salaya, Book 1:Sarah
by gilmoregrlz
Summary: Sarah's been kidnapped by a bunch of outlaws!  All she can think about is escaping and getting back to her love, the prince of Salaya.  But what happens when she actually get's to know these outlaws and the truth of Salaya?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The moon shone brightly in the star-lit sky. A gentle breeze blew the end of Sarah's hair as she walked hand in hand with Christopher. It had been silent for quite a few moments now as the awkwardness that the new couple now felt settled in.

Finally, they stopped in front of the old maple tree, the last standing tree in Salaya. He slowly turned to look into her eyes, wondering if she would look back. For a moment, they connected, a strong connection that let them know that this was how it was supposed to be. The Prince of Salaya together with no more than a servant girl, but yet, it was meant to be.

"If father knew I was here with you, he would have a fit." Chris whispered, not removing his gaze from her eyes.

"Then why, Chris, are you here?" He took a moment to respond, but finally said with hesitation,

"Because Sarah, whatever my father says about royal upbringing, and social classes doesn't matter. All that matters is that I find someone who I want to be with, whether he likes it or not." Sarah couldn't move. She hoped that if everything was still and peaceful long enough, the memory would be forever emblazoned inside her mind.

"Well, I'm glad you did," Sarah said after a long moment, "I mean, sneak out to be here with me tonight. Tonight has been the single best night of my life. You couldn't have made it more perfect." She smiled.

"Me too." He smiled back, and then slowly leaned over and kissed her. The feeling was intense and Sarah's mind was soaring. The kiss lasted for a moment, but was interrupted from a loud shot 100 yards away.

"Sarah, they've found us, we're not safe outside the city." Chris said.

"Chris, go, run back to the city. It doesn't matter if they catch me, but I don't want to even think about what will happen if they catch you."

"Are you asking me to leave you here? Are you insane?" he nearly shouted.

"They know someone is here, not that both of us are here, and that one of us is you. If we both run, they'll chase us, and most likely catch us. I can't let it be my fault that you were captured. Please, just go. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She said reassuringly. He didn't move for a moment, he didn't want to move. Sarah kissed him real fast.

"If you ever want to do that again you have to leave now!" Sarah said raising her voice. After another minute, he reluctantly gave up and ran into the forest towards Xanthis, the world's capitol.

There were a few terrible moments when Sarah sat waiting for their stalkers to show up. It got even worse when the two men on horses actually showed up.

"What do we have here?" said the younger one, not much older than Sarah, but definitely from a different culture. Sarah looked back at the two men. They wore scraggly clothes along with smug expressions.

"What's such a nicely clothed young lady doing out in these parts this late at night?" the second one said.

"I… I… I…" Sarah stammered.

"Out with it girl!" the man shouted.

"Well," Sarah wondered how many lies she could get away with telling, "You see, I just met this guy in Xanthis, and I really liked him, but my mother disapproved of him. So tonight, we decided to take a walk in the woods, away from the city, but we got separated, and I ended up here." She finished very proud of herself. The two men looked like they believed it.

"Well then little missy," the older one said, "You're rather lucky we came along, or you might have died out here."

"Oh good, so you'll take me back?" Sarah asked hopefully. Both men laughed hysterically.

"Take you back?" the young one scoffed, "Sorry, that strikes as funny, but we haven't been in that city for years."

"You haven't? Than what city do you live in? There isn't another one around for miles!" Sarah exclaimed.

"You're darn right little missy, and we're darn proud of it." The old one replied.

"Well then. Where do you live? Who are you?" Sarah asked.

"We'll show you." The younger one said and pulled her onto his horse.

The younger one was Matt and the older one was Ned. They smelled like they had never taken a shower once in their life, yet the ride with them was some of the most fun she had had in a long time.

The men explained about a civilization called the Marx, a small group determined to bring Xanthis down. Sarah now understood why the men had laughed at her plea to take her back to the city. These men were wanted criminals. Though they seemed friendly now, Sarah was very afraid of what was to come when they had made it to their camp.

"The camp is lovely though, you'll love it." Matt explained.

"I'm sure, but I would like to go home." Sarah replied. Matt turned around to look at her.

"Are you serious? You can't ever go home. The fact that you even mingled with us makes you an outlaw."

"MINGLED WITH YOU?!?!?! YOU MINGLED WITH ME!!!!!" Sarah yelled.

"Be quiet Sarah, no need to get worked up over this." Ned said from the other horse. They were approaching a clearing in the woods. Sarah noticed rising smoke in the distance signaling that they were getting close to a fire.

"We're almost there." Matt told her as they came to a halt outside what seemed to be an empty village.

"But I don't want to be here. Please, let me go home!" Sarah tried one last time.

"Sarah, we can't risk it." Ned explained as he got off his horse and walked over to help her down.

"I don't care. Than you had no right to take me to here, and I'll let you know I'll be greatly missed. They'll come looking for me." Sarah responded, wishing that she could take the words back seconds too late.

"Greatly missed? Are you one of them royals?" Matt asked with a gleam in his eye.

"No, I'm not, I just… just… am well known. They'll know I'm missing and come looking for me."

"Well you don't have you worry. They won't mess with you when you're with us." Ned reassured her.

_Great._ Sarah thought to herself. _Now I'll never get out!_

"Ned, Matt! Guys, they're back!" A girl about Sarah's age came running towards the group. She stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Sarah.

"Who's that?" she asked angrily.

"Don't worry, we made her come, she's not going to betray us." Ned explained. The girl glared at Sarah as she edged forward a little.

"Ned, you know we can't have strangers here for no good reason. You can't just go picking up random kids that are outside of the city limits. You know what happened last time." Sarah wanted to ask what had happened, but decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Rach, this is different." Ned leaned closer to the blond girl, and whispered something in her ear. Her expression changed immediately from a snobby and hateful glare to a smug and satisfied grin.

"Welcome your highness, I mean, Sarah." Rachel said.

"What are you talking about? I'm not royal." Rachel glanced at Ned, not sure of what to say.

"Oh, I know that! It's a nickname, as in, you're too good for our village, princess." Rachel said rolling her eyes.

"Come on Sarah, you should meet everyone else." Matt said and led her towards a small group of people gathering at the center of the village.

There were about 10 of them total, including Matt, Ned, and Rachel. An older woman, Ned's wife named Erika, seemed to nod and smile a lot. Right away she ran up to hug Sarah, brushing away all the dirt that had accumulated over the ride.

Next there was a guy and a girl, Kayla and Neal, who seemed inseparable. Their fingers were locked and they barely paid any attention to Sarah when her presence was announced.

There also were two girls standing towards the back of the group, not wanting to be seen. They whispered and giggled to themselves, and only quieted when Ned yelled at them. Johanna and Jordyn seemed to both be Sarah's age.

There happened to be another girl, slightly older than Sarah, that looked strangely familiar. Her name was Lindsay. Upon their arrival, she immediately went over to Matt and never left his side.

Finally, there was a boy; his age was unreadable. His name was Alec, and Sarah felt an immediate attraction. He had bright blue eyes and sandy blonde hair. He had an amazing smile, and never took his eyes off of her. She wished more than anything that she could walk over to him and hug him, just get lost in his arms. However, she experienced some self-restraint and stayed where she was.

"So welcome to our small little community, Sarah" Ned finished. "I hope you'll find everything you need here."

"It seems…" Sarah started, fishing for a polite word, "quaint. I'm sure I'll get used to it." Lies, all lies. What she meant was that it was a horrid heap hole that she was going to escape the first moment she had a chance.

"Well, Erika and I share the hut over there. Matt, Alec, and Neal all share that one there. That is the main hall where everyone can hang out together. That hut over there is where Johanna, Jordyn, and Rachel all sleep. Kayla and Lindsay sleep in the one above it. I guess you can bunk with them." Ned explained.

"OK, sounds good to me." She looked over to see how the other two girls felt about it. Both seemed too wrapped up in the guys they admired to pay any attention to Sarah.

"Well then group, the excitement is over, back to your nightly chores. Sarah, if you want, you can go get cleaned up and settled in. There's a bathroom connected to your hut." Ned said. Suddenly, as if turned on by a switch, the group turned and headed back towards their jobs. Neal and Kayla helped Erika with what appeared to be dinner. Alec went back to gathering wood. Johanna and Jordyn appeared to be washing dishes, and setting the table. Rachel, Lindsay, Matt, and Ned all went to sweep out the main hut and clean it up a little. Sarah decided on taking Ned's advice and heading up to get a shower.

The real trick was figuring out how to get up to the top hut. It was stationed above Johanna, Jordyn, and Rachel's. A firm tree held it in place. Sarah walked around the tree and the hut a few times, contemplating the best way to get up.

"You can't figure it out either?" said a voice from behind her. Sarah whirled around to see Alec standing behind her, grinning widely.

"No. There's got to be some trick to it." Sarah replied.

"Here, let me help." He strode past her over to a small notch in the tree. He pounded it three times with his fist. Slowly the notch grew into a bump as a set of stairs emerged.

"It used to be a safe hut, you know, that we could hide in, incase anyone came. We hid all of our ammo up there and everything, but when Kayla came, four people to a hut was too much, so we converted it into another sleeping quarters. That's how I know about it. I don't sneak up there or anything." Alec stated. Sarah laughed.

"Well, thanks for helping me. I should probably go up to get cleaned off a bit. Oh, and for the record, I never thought that you would sneak up there. Of course, I wouldn't mind much if you ever came up to visit me." Alec smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said and turned around to head back to his chore. Sarah smiled to herself as she walked upstairs to the hut in the tree.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Thanks for the dinner Erika" Sarah said politely as she tried to choke down the rest of the Tree Bark Stew that she was consuming.

"It wasn't just me. Neal and Kayla helped tremendously too!" Erika replied. At the sound of their names, Neal and Kayla shot their heads up to attention.

"Don't worry, we weren't talking to you. You can just go back to being in your own little world. As usual." Rachel stated, mumbling the last part under her breath.

"Well, Sarah, since it's your first night here, we'll relieve you from jobs. Tomorrow's when the work will start. You HAVE done work before, haven't you?" Erika asked. Sarah thought back to how hard she had to work in Salaya. Her mother washed clothes and she was a maid in the Vergmont's house. Vergmont. Just the thought of that name made her shudder. The Vergmont's were the worst family that she had ever worked for. The mother and father looked down on her, and treated her like crap. Meanwhile, their three little children, all brats, ran around messing up everything. Working here might even be the best job she had ever worked at. She wouldn't get paid; of course, if she didn't work, what would be her other options?

"That would be great, but if I'm not working, what can I do?" Sarah asked.

"Well, we have a bunch of books back in the main room, and an old computer. We also have a few art supplies and some textbooks, even a few puzzles. I think there might even be and old TV and gaming system, PS2, I believe." Erika replied. "I've never played it, but the kids tell me that it's a lot of fun."

"I'm done with my chores, I could hang out with her." Alec offered.

"That's nice of you Alec." Erika said, eyeing him up. "Whatever would cause you to want to do that? Aren't you usually off in your room writing songs or something during your free time?"

"Yeah, but Sarah's new, and I figured I could keep her company. You guys are all busy anyway." Alec tried.

"Actually, I'm not, and I'd love to get to know Sarah better." Matt answered. He moved closer to her. She tried to inch away without him or anyone else noticing. Alec, however, noticed.

"Matt, go be buddy-buddy with someone else. I'm fine. I want to hang out with Sarah." Alec responded. He got up and cleared his plate. Sarah followed suit.

"Now, if you would excuse us, we will be off." Alec said and left. Sarah gave a meek wave good-bye and followed him out the door.

"Sorry about them, especially Matt. They're not used to having me talk to anyone." Alec explained once they were out of earshot.

"Why is that?" Sarah asked, curious.

"Most of the people here drive me crazy. All the girls are always so chatty and annoying. Neal and Kayla are always wrapped up in each other. Matt is obsessive when it comes to pretty girls, and Ned and Erika, well, they're kind of old. They're like our parents. So that leaves me, and me alone."

"Then why talk to me?"

"Get to you before all the other girls do. And to save you from Matt. And because I kind of like you."

"You… do?"

"Well, yeah. You're the first girl I've seen since I've been out here that hasn't driven me insane."

"Give me a while, I can make you go absolutely batty." They both laughed.

"I just wanted to talk to you some, hang out with you, get to know you better. Pretty girls don't come by here much. Girls in general don't come by here much." Sarah blushed.

"I thought all the guys here would be smelly like Ned and Matt, but you're not smelly."

"OK?"

"Well, you complimented me, and it was the only thing I could think of." Alec smiled.

"In that case, thank-you. Anyway, what do you want to do?"

"Erika said you wrote songs, can I hear them?" Sarah asked. Alec stood there for a moment. Not sure of what he wanted to do.

"I guess." He finally said with hesitation. Sarah smiled as he led the way to the cabin. It was cozy inside. There were 2 beds, one on each side of the room. There was a table in the middle, a couch in the corner, a bookshelf in the other corner, and a bathroom straight back. Alec headed towards the left side of the room where a polished guitar lay perfectly in the guitar stand on the floor. Alec took great care lifting it up and putting the strap over his neck. Sarah watched with fascination.

"This is my fender stratocaster. It's an original. It's that old. It's my life." Alec went through this little speech with Sarah.

"OK, so, let's hear a song than." Sarah stated. Alec played a few chords. Sarah sighed. She had forgotten what real music sounded like, real crisp, clean music.

"I haven't even started singing yet." Alec commented.

"I know!" Sarah gave a little giggle. "I just forgot how amazing it is."

"What?"

"Music."

"It is pretty amazing isn't it?" Alec asked. Sarah nodded as he continued on with his song.

"Don't stop." Sarah pleaded when it was over.

"Do you want to hear all of my songs?" Alec asked.

"Oh could I?" Sarah asked excitedly and hopped up and down.

"Only if you don't do that." He smiled and began to sing.

The minutes passed away as Alec played through each of his songs. When he had done that, he played songs he had learned that were written a long time ago. By the time Sarah let him stop, it was dark out, and a few people had gone to bed. Sarah sat down next to Alec. Just as carefully as he had picked it up, Alec put his guitar back in the stand.

"I haven't played that much for a while." He stated.

"I loved it. It was the best music I have ever heard." It was quiet for a moment.

"You know, Matt's never going to leave you alone." Alec said out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"You're new. You're unattainable. You're pretty. You're another girl for him to obsess over."

"I'm unattainable?"

"Most of the girls here are in love with him, but you wouldn't give him the time of day."

"What's your point?" Sarah asked confused.

"You know what would really piss him off?"

"What?" Sarah asked, half laughing.

"This." Alec leaned over and kissed her. She sat there in shock, not sure whether to pull away or stay where she was. Of course, timing couldn't have been better because Matt walked in right then.

"What is this?" He said angrily. Alec and Sarah immediately pulled away.

"What do you think you're doing?" Matt yelled.

"Kissing Sarah?" Alec said. "At least, I THINK that's what I'm doing. Hold on, let me check." Alec leaned over kissed Sarah again. "Yeah, that would be what I was doing."

Rage was boiling up inside Matt; you could see it in his bulging vein and quivering hands.

"Out, NOW!" Matt bellowed. Sarah quickly got up and ran out. As Sarah headed for her hut, she could hear Matt and Alec going at it.

_GREAT!_ Sarah thought, _My first day here, and ALREADY I'm causing fights!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

The next morning Sarah awoke early. For a moment, she forgot where she was. The quiet sounds of her roommates, the whistling of the wind, and the movement of the trees reminded her instantly. She wasn't in her beautiful town of Xanthis. She was in the wilderness. Stuck with a bunch of weirdoes.

Not sure of what to do, she decided to go down to the main hut and read a book or something. She walked in through the door and headed straight for the bookshelf. She stopped suddenly when a small scratching noise was heard behind her. She spun quickly on the spot and saw Jordyn sitting in a chair with a sketchbook and pencil in hand.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were here." Sarah commented.

"It's ok. Not many people do. I like to come here in the mornings and draw before everyone gets up."

"You draw? Could I see some of your pictures?" Sarah asked.

"Sure. They're not very good though." Sarah took the pad and leafed through the pages, stopping to look at the really good ones.

"What do you mean they're not very good? These are amazing!" Sarah handed Jordyn her sketchbook back. "Let me ask you something," Sarah started when Jordyn began to sketch again, "you're an amazing artist. Alec is an amazing musician. Anyone else around here have any special talents I don't know about?" Jordyn shrugged.

"Erika is a brilliant chef. She used to cook for the king." Jordyn offered. Sarah found this hard to believe considering that the food she ate last night wasn't exactly top-notch. "And Neal and Matt are really good at building things. They were the ones who built all these huts. Neal used to be a lot better, before… well, just a while ago. Rachel is the queen of protection. She's got everywhere around here booby-trapped, and she takes care of all the ammo supplies and such. Ned's the guy that knows everything about anything. He knows the land and his way around Xanthis, not like that's come in handy!" Jordyn finished. She looked up from her sketchbook. "Why, do you have any special talents?"

"I like to read. A lot. If you could count that."

"Hmmm. Johanna likes to read too, but more of manuals. She fixes everything that breaks. She's the one who got the TV and the PS2 and even Alec's guitar."

"Well, I like to read novels, expand my knowledge, write stories. I like to dream I guess." Sarah commented.

"That's cool. We could use another dreamer in this camp full of realists. It's mostly just Alec and I who are optimists. Everyone else has to be so realistic and stubborn."

"So, what's the story on everyone here?" Sarah asked.

"Let's see. Ned, Erika, and Matt ran away to the wild when the law threatened Ned. That was about 10 years ago. Johanna and I were friends, and we decided to retaliate at the time. This did no good whatsoever since we were only 8. We were forced into hiding and Ned came back to help us escape. Neal came out here when his parents died. He was a good friend of Matt's. Rachel came out with him since they were dating at the time. Alec was a runaway. Lindsay got in trouble with the law too, and her mother forced her to go away with Ned. It was just Lindsay, her mom, and her little sister. Her mom didn't want to risk any harm to her other daughter. It's rather sad really. So Lindsay ended up here, all by herself. My mom actually sent me with her. The buddy system, it worked. We got here fine." Jordyn finished.

"What about Kayla?" Sarah asked, eager to hear more about the group's past.

"Oh right. She was actually the same as you. Ned and Matt found her out in the middle of no where when they were patrolling the area. It was pretty weird that she was so far away from the capitol. Actually, we were ambushed last year by the guards of Xanthis, and Rachel swears that Kayla…" Jordyn trailed off. Kayla stood in the doorway staring at them.

"Where's Neal?" Jordyn asked.

"Sleeping, like everyone else… except for you two. What exactly are you doing here?" Kayla answered.

"I come here every morning. At least until today…" Jordyn told her.

"And I couldn't sleep." Sarah chimed in.

"Whatever." Kayla said and turned around to leave. "Oh, and by the way, whatever Rachel says about me, or whatever you think about me, I had nothing to do with that attack last year." She threw them one last glare and stormed out of the main hut.

"I don't like her much." Sarah commented once Kayla was out of earshot.

"No one does. Pretty much Neal and that's it." Jordyn replied. Some voices were starting to build up outside of the tent. They could hear Erika, Ned, Kayla, Matt, Neal, and Alec all talking. Jordyn and Sarah decided to go out and see what was going on.

"Oh well, I can finish this sketch another time." Jordyn sighed.

As they approached the scene, Sarah's mouth dropped in horror. Alec had a black eye shining in the morning sun. Matt had a swollen lip and appeared to be arguing with Alec.

"I don't care WHAT was said, this behavior is unacceptable." Erika yelled.

"We've never had to enforce rules here, don't make us start now." Ned added.

"I'm telling you, he deserved it. He was being a jerk." Matt protested.

"I don't want to hear it. You're both taking over everyone's chores today, and you're going to sleep in different huts. Neal, you take Matt's bed, and Matt, you take Neal's back room." Erika said. Neal and Matt both looked unhappy about this, but neither one was willing to fight Erika over it.

"Everyone, you're free for the day, except for you two." Erika told everyone. "Well, get started you two, you have a lot of work to do in one day!" Alec and Matt reluctantly went off in separate directions.

"I'm going to go talk to Alec. See if he's ok." Sarah told Jordyn.

"Was that…" she motioned to the two boys, "over you?" Sarah just nodded.

"Wow, way to go new girl." Jordyn gave her a high five and then went back to the main hut and her sketchbook. Sarah chased after Alec.

"Hey, how are you doing this morning?" Sarah asked him when she finally caught up. He stared at her for a moment before saying,

"How does it look like I'm doing?"

"Not so good. Does it hurt?"

"Yeah, but it's not so bad. The swelling has gone down a bit."

"That's good. Why did you do it?" Sarah asked.

"Do what?"

"Hit him."

"Oh. Well, he was asking for it. He came in there telling me that I was a horrible friend for making a move on you before he even got a chance, and that I was a jerk for it. Then he took a swing at me and hit my eye, so I swung back. Punched him right in the mouth. Left a nice mark if I do say so myself." Sarah gave him a disapproving look. Alec noticed this shortly later.

"WHAT?!?!?" He exclaimed.

"I don't want you to get in a fight over me. I don't want to cause trouble here." Sarah sighed.

"Don't worry about that. I think that you're the best thing that has ever happened here." Alec leaned down to kiss her, but she backed away. "Don't hate me because of this."

"No, I don't. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"I kind of already have a boyfriend."

"Oh, is that it? Well, you'll never see him again. You had me worried for a second."

"No. The other night, when I was brought here, I was with him."

"That's what Ned and Matt said. I don't see your point."

"He's rather important back in Xanthis. He's going to come looking for me, and send the whole army out after me."

"He can do that??? Who is he? The king?" Alec asked half jokingly.

"Close."

"The prince? Sarah, are you serious?" Sarah said nothing.

"The thing is…" she finally said after a few moments of silence, "no matter how much we may seem to click, last night was a mistake. He will come find me. I will see him again. And…"

"And what?"

"I still love him." Without saying anymore, Sarah turned and left Alec standing on the spot, not sure whether to be angry or horribly depressed. He settled on the feeling hurt and went back to gathering the wood for the day.


End file.
